POV: Father Paul
There were various things that occurred before I drifted into this town. I was born as a noble’s child and was admitted to the church at an early age as one of my duties coming from a noble lineage.
Well, it sounded nice to say that it was a noble’s duty, but it was really just a good excuse to get rid of the bothersome 5th son. However, I was fortunate enough to have the talent for magic. Therefore, I entered the church dedicated to the Goddess Liliel of the Five Great Goddesses Church, learned [Sacred Magic], healed people, stopped disasters, got rid of curses and strove towards the faith of the Five Great Goddesses who managed the world.
The Five Great Goddesses Church started with a story about how the world was made. In this story, the Creator made nine continents and put gods on each one to help the people live their lives and guide them.
On our continent, the five Goddesses—Lariel-sama, Liliel-sama, Luriel-sama, Leriel-sama, and Loriel-sama—watched over us, and it was the Five Great Goddesses church that protected and revered the teachings of the Five Great Goddesses. (T/N: Awfully creative names…but at least they’re easy to remember, and now I’m like 99% sure they’re all goddesses.)
The creation myth is an old myth, but anecdotes of the Five Great Goddesses had become known familiarly as myths of our church. Besides, it was said that there were nine continents each with their own gods, and people before the catastrophe 2000 years ago were able to come and go freely, but there is currently no navigation technology able to move to other continents.
Occasionally, though, driftwood and other objects that seemed to come from other continents washed ashore, so people were aware of the existence of the other continents, but it was otherwise an unknown world……but I digress.
When I was young, I was praised extravagantly as a future cardinal or something similar like the Five Great Goddesses, so others were jealous of me. They ostracized me and finally I was sent to this dungeon city, so I decided to give up on trying to go higher.
But that was when my faith was put to the test.
As the person in charge of the church and orphanage in this city, I sometimes talked to the Lord, preached the teachings of the Goddess and the Saints to those who came to church on the Sabbath, and worked hard every day to make sure the children who had lost their parents could live in peace.
I can do it. Believing that, I acted… but as soon as I had a setback, I gave up. However even then, I tried to act to not let the children think of their ravenous hunger.
Still, it didn't change every day. I taught some talented orphans the [Sacred Magic] I had learned, and they left the orphanage. Some of them became priests in small churches all over the world and helped people who were hurt while others went on adventures.
Besides that, the children I sent out without giving anything were blessed with connections with others. They were blessed with jobs, profited in their careers, and sent donations to the church as gratitude, even if it was only a little.
Even so, right as I thought that the current situation wasn’t enough and my body was gradually declining, that person appeared.
The duo of Chise-san, a girl with black hair and black eyes wearing a robe and Teto-san, a cheerful girl with a tan color.
Most of the time, the witch girl talked in a calm way that made me think she was about my age. However, she looked about the same age as the other kids in the orphanage.
Back then, I cleaned the ornaments she brought in that were cursed and took the money, thinking that the orphans could eat well for a while with the money I’ve gotten.
But then Dan, one of the orphans I was taking care of, asked me to take him to the dungeon. Because I was just about worthless, the small children also went to pick herbs near the town.
I couldn’t overlook the dungeon where monsters appeared. However, the children still had no way to protect themselves. And Dan, who was angry with me, ran away.
After seeing that, Chise-san donated money and food to the orphanage. She had only come to dispel the equipment, but when she heard about the present condition of the orphanage, she still helped, that is why I am thankful to her.
Ever since then, it's hard to believe how things have changed after that encounter.
The next day, Chise-san came and stopped Dan from going to the dungeon. She said she would teach Dan how to make potions. She also used her own money to set up a way for the orphanage to make money and the tools it would need to help the kids become independent.
By getting the adventurer guild and lord involved, a big plan was made to help the orphanage stay independent.
The guild master of the adventurer's guild, in particular, knew what was going on inside the orphanage, perhaps because he was close to an adventurer from there. He suggested that they would look into it. The lord also listened, and civilian officials thought about the problem and helped us solve it.
I sometimes talk to the guild master about how to help the injured people. I'd like to thank her for making a suggestion for the orphanage, so as a thank you…
“That Jou-chan told me— Don’t reduce the money to the orphanage even if they make potions. It would be an issue if, by any chance, the compounding technology was cut off and there was no income.”
But that could also lead to theft of orphanage funds, so I was told that the orphanage was audited regularly under the guise of keeping an eye on the kids to make sure they weren't feeling bad.
How far could that girl see ahead?
And in such a short time, she made a profitable business out of making paper from the discarded wood that was only found in dungeon cities.
The idea was too much, that the genius was the prodigy sent by Liliel to save the orphans.
“Father. If you make a Bible from the paper made by the children, it will be easier to spread the faith of the Goddess. It also makes it easier to cheaply pull support from the top of the church, and it would also serve as a model case for building an orphanage, a compounding facility, and a paper manufacturing facility as a set in another town.”
“Chise-sama, you are……”
“——is my official stance. This makes it easier for the children to read and write letters, and since wood comes from the dungeons in this town, there’s no shortage of charcoal to write on the paper.”
“The paper made for profit, can the children use it?”
“Yes. If they can read, write, and do math, they will still be able to make a living after leaving the orphanage. This is the most important thing to teach. Profit comes in second. And because the children are making money, Father can cut down on the time you've been working, so you can teach the children how to read and write in addition to copying the Bible to learn.”
She then gave me some books on how to make potions, make paper, read, and write, and told me to send them to the church. All of them seemed to be handwritten by Chise-sama and Teto-sama.
There were two conclusions that I have come up with after observing the books.
The textbook Chise-sama left was copied again and remade into a properly bound book, becoming a textbook used in many churches.
The other one is that by letting the children use paper, unexpected talents would then be discovered.
One child opened a signboard shop in town because they liked to draw, and another child's delicate paintings turned her into a religious artist who only worked for churches. Now, they could take another step towards their independence.
The power to look ahead for the sake of the children, she seemed like a witch who could predict the future, and her heart seemed to be that of a saint who loved people. However, if you praised her, then that shy figure seemed appropriate for her age.
To help her, I gave her the [Sacred Magic] spellbook that mimicked the miracles of the Five Great Goddesses that I had received from the church.
When I was sent to this land, I neglected my magical training due to the daily struggle, but if it’s her, she’ll surely be able to put it into good use.
